CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1926, Page 13

CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES.

UNEXPECTED VERDICT. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Hamilton, Last Night. At the Supreme Court a claim for £1648 damages for injuries received whilst employed at To Kawa quarries, near Te Awamutu, was heard before Mr. Justice Herdman and a jury. The plaintiff was James Floyd, a labourer, of Te Kuiti, and the defendants were Thomas G. Martin, farmer, and William Dunedin Ross McCurdie, an engineer formerly carrying on business in partnership at Te Kawa, under the style of the Te Kawa Quarry Company. In summing up His Honour described the claim as ridiculous. One thought some of the jury might even regard it as preposterous. The plaintiff, to His Honour’s mind, suffered only from a bruise, and after sleeping on the claim for six months now came forward and brought au action for this large amount of money. After a retirement of three and a half hours the jury returned a verdict in favour of the plaintiff, awarding him £3OO. ’ William Alexander Annan was awarded £B5O damages in a claim for £lO3O for the loss of three fingers of the right band, which were severed by a goose saw while cutting slabs in the Ongaruo Sawmill Company’s mill.

Mr. Justice Herdman summed up in favour of the company.